Everything We Know About Portal Spin-off, Aperture Desk Job

Almost like a test-run and advertisement for Valve’s new Steam Deck, Aperture Desk Job is set in the Portal universe, and is meant strictly to be played using a gamepad, and ideally, on the Steam Deck. Valve describes the game as a “free playable short” which was devised to walk players through their new device’s multitude of features.

“Aperture Desk Job reimagines the been-there-done-that genre of walking simulators and puts them in the lightning-spanked, endorphin-gorged world of sitting still behind things,” says the description of the game’s Steam page.

Players start off taking on an the role entry-level nobody beginning on their first day at work, engaging in gameplay of, well, mostly sitting, “… Your heart full of hope and your legs full of dreams, eager to climb that corporate ladder. But life’s got other plans, and they all involve chairs.”

While that brief description of gameplay may sound a little too mundane, Valve has assured players that it is not “nearly as boring as it sounds.” Valve was also quick to add the disclaimer that is it “Not Portal 3! Lower your expectations: This is not a sequel to Portal. Now get ready to raise them slightly, because it is in the expanded universe of those games.”

Being from the Portal universe, Aperture Desk Job seems promising in terms of the jokes and references it may contain, which will reward long-time fans of the Portal game franchise.

Aperture Desk Job is available on Steam can be downloaded by clicking here.